You Are In Control

Proverbs 3:5-6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will guide your path.

Right now you may be thinking. Hey, I thought God is in charge. Both statements are true. Let me explain.

God is the creator of the universe and everything in it. Nothing exists or moves without God allowing it. God not only made it, He allows events according to His will and plan.

satan and his band of followers roam the Earth, trying their best to stop God and His plan for us. They made a choice, and they lost Heaven. Since then they've tried to keep people from God with lies, deceit, and all manner of other things.

1 Peter 5:8, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 

James 4 :7 therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 

It appears to many people that satan is in charge because of all the evil in the world. satan's greatest deception is making sin look desirable, and is hiding the fact that his way leads to eternal destruction. If you don't know what the Bible says, you are in great danger. 

The other part, where you are in control. You get to decide who you will follow, God or satan. God will allow whatever you choose. Realize this absolute fact. How you live is decided by you. Where you spend eternity is decided by you. The quality of your life and that of your family is decided by you. In case you didn't know it, God wants the best for you, while satan wants your total Destruction. Who you follow determines just how your life goes. When you choose satan, God is not damning you, you are. Decisions have consequences for good or bad. Seems like a no brainer, don’t you think? God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise The Lord! 

Amen

My Time With Jesus Tuesday

No Condemnation 

Romans 8:1, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 

It may come as a surprise to you, but even Christians have periods of doubt about their spiritual well-being. Why is that we may ask? As with most things, the answer is pretty simple. Let's take a look at some verses that may help. 

1 Peter 5:1, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

That verse  tells you that satan is on the prowl and he is running around trying his hardest, especially with Christians to make them feel condemned and unloved by God. He wants you and I to be as bad off as he is, with no hope. It may seem like he only attacks Christians, and you would probably be mostly right. The simple reason is he already has the majority and he doesn't need to work on them.

2 Corinthians 11:3, But I fear, Unless somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

This verse is just a reminder to be on your guard, and always realize that if you were saved to begin with you generally have nothing to worry about. I do not know of any way that a truly saved person can lose salvation.

As you have probably figured out by now from these verses, satan is an evil, sneaky, villain. He has had thousands of years to perfect his trickery, and he has become number one at it.

You are not guilty of the evil thoughts satan puts in your mind. You are guilty only when you act on them. satan knows the Bible very well. He will spin, omit, change, what the Word says in order to deceive you and everyone else. it is therefore very important for you to know God's Word, so you will not be an easy target for his trickery.

Here is a very important point to remember. satan is always condemning us to God the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is our advocate in Heaven, because by His death and Resurrection he has made us righteous in the eyes of the Father. Absolutely no condemnation. 

If your heart is right with God, He will not condemn you. When you are in doubt,  He is the answer to everything. God bless you and your family. Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise The Lord! 

Amen

Quiet Time

Matthew 6: 6, But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Have you ever had a quiet time with the Lord? By quiet time, I mean a time when you met with Jesus in private. You are missing something really important in your life if you aren't separating yourself from the world and spending some time everyday with Jesus.

 When I first started spending private time with Jesus, it wasn't easy. I woke up an hour earlier in order to do it. satan stepped in so fast I couldn't believe it. Stuff like telling me I was foolish, my bed was warm and comfortable, do it later, nothing will change, and every other thing he could think of.

 Up until the day I decided to do it, satan realized something that I didn't. Private time with our lord Jesus gave me a closer relationship with him, and opened my spiritual eyes.

During this special time, I pour my heart out to Him. I try not to complain, but I do tell Him about what I am thinking and feeling. As I talked to our Lord, a feeling of Peace came over me. I know He knows it before I ever tell Him, but something about telling Him, allows you to realize He will take care of everything.

Mark 6: 31, And He said to them, come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile. For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 

If you desire to at least try it for a week or two, know that satan will try very hard to stop you. Don't let him do it. I start my day with Jesus, and a few people I know do the same thing. A lot of my friends end their day with private time with Jesus. The important thing is that it is private time. Once you start, you will get so much out of it, that you will do it everyday, and  actually look forward to it. God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve you only. 

Praise The Lord!

Amen

Want More Faith

Romans 10: 17, So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

More faith is something most believers search for, and pray for. Most  people believe in God, and that is as far as their faith seems to go. Does that sound like you? 

No one comes to the Father except through Jesus. So it looks like the best place to begin our quest, is to know who Jesus is. Every believer must understand that Jesus died for their sins, which means all of them, no matter how many or how bad.

The problem many people have is that they think they are beyond redemption, or they think they don't need it because they are not sinners. Don't listen to anything or anybody, including me. The Bible is the only infallible source of information concerning God and salvation. The only real source of Truth in this world.

Proverbs 3 : 5 - 6, tells us, trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will guide your path.

In order to act on this verse, you need the help of the Holy Spirit. You can only get His help when you receive Him at salvation. By reading the Bible, people discover this, and countless other truths.

Faith is not some kind of magic. Just as athletes train and train to get better, regardless of the amount of effort, they know it is something they must continue to do, or lose most of the skills they have acquired.

Faith is like that. You get out of it what you put into it. The harder you work at knowing Jesus, the closer you will get to Him. The Bible is like a treasure map to an incredible fortune. This treasure is blessings, and leads to a better life today, and an eternity with Father God.

Faith comes naturally when you know the foundation of Faith. The  Holy Spirit will guide you to the right version of the Bible for you, and He will help you understand. Bibles that are available today, are written so that anyone can understand them. Knowing who Jesus really is, and having a closer relationship with Him, is the greatest gift of all time, and it will shock you how close you can get to the Lord in this life. God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord!

2  Corinthians 5: 7 tells us for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise The Lord! 

Amen

My Time With Jesus Tuesday

Are You Saved

Romans 10:9-10, If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One Believes with the heart resulting in righteousness and one confesses with the mouth resulting in Salvation. 

Ephesians 2:8-9, For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift- not from works so that no one can boast.

Acts 16:31, They said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved - you and your household. 

So why do so many people, including some Christians reach a point where they question whether they are saved or not? Doesn't seem possible does it? But it is true. There are people who will judge you and tell you you are not saved because you don't follow all the Fruits of the Spirit we receive when we are saved.  

Galatians 5: 22-23. Well my friends don't ever let anybody tell you you are not saved. 

People, even well-meaning people fall into the trap of judging others based on what they think Salvation means. When you condemn someone for any reason, especially questioning their salvation, you are trying to take God's place, and that is not acting like a Christian at all.

Matthew 7:7, Ask, and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open to you. 

If you are that person that is questioning whether or not you are saved because of something someone told you, realize that you may be listening to words that were conjured up by satan himself. That does not mean that the one who told you is evil, they just don't know any better.

If you still have doubt in your mind about whether you are saved or not, just get by yourself and take a good hard look at how you are living. Study the verses above, get into the Bible. When you do this you will see pretty clearly whether you were saved in the first place. If in fact you were saved In the first place, you will not lose your salvation. regardless of what  someone tells you.

Remember this important fact. The only opinion that counts is the Lord Jesus Christ , and He is judging by the heart. Anybody else's opinion including mine means nothing. It is what the Bible says that counts. God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. Amen 

Praise The Lord 

Unknown Helper

John 14: 26, But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in My name; He will teach you all things, and bring to  your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Today the message is about one of the greatest blessings man can receive. The sad part is, most people know little or nothing of this blessing. Most churches have barely talked of it for hundreds of years. That blessing is the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2: 38, Then Peter said to them, repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit

When we repent our sins, and accept Jesus as Our Savior, we instantly receive the Holy Spirit. There are so many incredible things we could talk about concerning the Holy Spirit that it would take volumes in order to do it. With that reality in mind, I will just mention a couple of them here.

Many people feel that they don't know how to pray in a way that is acceptable to God. No problem. Since the Holy Spirit is always with you, spill your heart out to Him. The Holy Spirit will take your sincere jumbled thoughts, and present them to God Himself as a perfect prayer.

Next thing is something I cannot do without. The Holy Spirit will take care of your needs, every time you ask Him. Start the day by giving it to Him, to guide you, teach you, help you in the Lord's plan for you. As things come up during the day, ask Him, put it in His hands, and believe. He will never let you down.

Galatians 5:22 - 23, The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering ( patience ), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

 When you are saved, you receive what is called, the fruits of the Spirit. These gifts are a guide to living according to God's will. The Holy Spirit helps you to do this too.

The Holy  Spirit is a helper from God, to help us to do God's will. There is no limit to the amount of help He will give us. Keep this in mind however, He is not a servant that will do things that are not according to God's will.

The Holy Spirit has become like a part of me. By that I mean, without Him, it would be like trying to function without a heart. That is no exaggeration, that is pure fact. God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise The Lord!

Amen

Everyone Needs Prayer

John 15:16, You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, That whatever you ask the Father in My Name, He may give you. 

While it is true that everyone needs prayer, some are more in need than others. A very large portion of the world population falls into a category I call the forgotten ones.

Forgotten people fall into several groups. Whichever group they are in, they all have something in common. We will explore them now.

There are countless people in nursing homes, assisted living, retirement homes, etc. Many of these people are ignored by everyone. They have no one that cares if they live or die. They have no hope, and most are waiting to die.

Then we have those who live with family or friends. Some are  abused mentally or physically, or both. They are constantly treated as the unwanted, and as a burden. It is pretty common for them to feel that they are in the way, even though they are treated like family in some cases.

There are some people who live alone. Friends have passed, and they have no one. They live in a world that treats them like they don't even exist. Yet just another group waiting to die.

So what do all of these people have in common? They are easy targets for satan. Many even think about suicide, and some actually do it. Desperation is a common feeling. So you may say, what has that to do with me? Well my friends, it has everything to do with you and me.

These people need our prayers desperately. Just in case you say prayers are a waste of time, let me remind you that God is pretty clear about prayer.

Mark 11:24, Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. 

1 John 5:15, And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

I have seen the impossible happen when you stand on the Word of God. Prayer for the Salvation of these forgotten ones and everybody else that you could think of should be at the top of your list. If you know some of these people, a kind word or two every once in a while would help a lot. Let them know that someone does care.

One thing to keep in mind is that you and I have been blessed by God with our salvation, health, and every other way you can think of. It is our duty to help others in some way. God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve only you.

Praise The Lord! 

Amen

My Time With Jesus Tuesday

The Meaning Of Verses

2 Timothy 3:16-17, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Most people who say they don't understand the Bible were never taught about the Bible. The sad fact is, generation upon generation of church-going people were never taught, so it is understandable so many give up in frustration.

The Bible is the inspired Word of God. Every word dictated by God to a chosen writer. Many writers over hundreds of years contributed to the story of God and His people.

If you are not saved yet, persistence and reading the Bible will get you to the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation. It is God's plan for man, eternal life with Him.

When you come across something you don't understand, Google can help you find the answer. If you are saved already, ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand, and He will.

keep in mind that the Bible is God's Word. Promises and warnings. Stand on those words and you can't go wrong.

As you probably know, satan is out to get you. He makes evil look good to many, who end up following him to eternal destruction. If you don't know what God says, how will you avoid the penalty of obeying satan's lies?

God's Word is an instruction book for a life leading to eternity with Him. You will get to the point where you will see what a treasure it is. I have given you a small picture to get you started with God's Word. How big it gets is up to you. God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise The Lord! 

Amen

The Unspeakable

Hebrews 9: 27, And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and then comes judgement.

This may seem like something too terrible to think about, but it is in fact terrible and at the same time something good. How can it be? There is an explanation to this seemingly contradictory statement. Let's start at the beginning. 

John 3: 16 - 17, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

 The sad truth is, many people have heard this verse, but do not believe or accept it. They live in their fantasy world where either everyone goes to Heaven when they die, or death is the end.

John 14: 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 

John 11:25, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.

These verses are full of hope for everyone who believes. On the other hand we must realize that denial of these truths does not make the truth go away. 

Matthew 7: 13 - 14, For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

There is only one version of truth, and it happens to be God's version. If you don't know who God is talking about, here it is.

Revelation 21: 8, But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

 While we are alive, we can turn to Jesus as our Savior. He died for our sins, so we don't have to. All we have to do is accept Jesus as our Savior, believe, and confess our sins.

Mark 16: 16, Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

One final word. God does not send anyone to hell. Each person decides for himself where he will go, by his actions in life. With God's Word available to all, what a shame it would be to spend eternity living an unimaginable life in hell. Time is running out. Tomorrow may be too late. No matter how many sins we have, God forgives if we repent. God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve only you. 

Praise The Lord! 

Amen

God’s Way

2 Timothy 3:16-17, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Because of the gift of free will, we have a choice as to whether we do things our way, or God's way. There are many people in the world today that think the Bible needs to be changed and brought up to the way people live today. The Bible has something to say about that.

Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

God does not change, and His standards of behavior don't either. What would happen if men decided the sun should rise in the West? God's laws are that inflexible, and no amount of spin can change that.

The Bible  says sin begins in the heart. We eventually do what our heart says, good or evil. If we see someone breaking God's law, and we agree or go along with it, we are just as guilty.

Keep this in mind. The word of God is the rule book for life. Eternal life is certain. It's our choice, God's way or satan's way. God does not send us where we don't want to be. We show who we follow by how we think and act. So remember it's your choice where you spend eternity.

Ephesians 2: 8-9, For by Grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

God bless you and your family

Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation. 

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve only you. 

Praise The Lord!

Amen

My Time With Jesus Tuesday

How Difficult Is Prayer

Mark 11:24, Therefore assuredly I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Prayer is not difficult. That may be hard to believe, but it is true. There is a condition connected with it however. As in life, there is always a but. This but is that whatever you pray for, you must pray from the heart.

Believers pray and trust what God will do. God sees the heart, so He knows who is not saved. When people who are not saved pray from their hearts. God hears, and helps them find Jesus.

What do you call prayer? Prayer is simply talking to God. That's right, it's that simple. Just pour out your heart.

Matthew 6:7, And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think they will be heard for their many words.

I have found over the years that the best cure for depression, confusion, and such, is a dose of God's Word, and talking to Him. Common sense tells you that if God made it all, He can fix it all.

One thing I feel I must add to this is the fact that a lot of people think Christianity is a religion. It is not. Christianity is and should be a relationship with God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Just talk to God as you would your best friend, and the relationship will build as you talk to Him and get involved in reading His Word the Bible. Here are a few verses to think about.

Philippians 4:6, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Romans 8:26, Likewise the Holy Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 

Luke 11:9-10, So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 

God always answers prayers from the heart, even if we don't think we're doing a very good job of praying. This verse about seeking and finding and knocking and it will be opened just refers to our search for the Lord and putting Him in our daily lives. 

God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise The Lord!.

Amen

Our Fellow Travelers

John 7:24, Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgement.

Have you ever looked at yourself and others, and wondered what life was all about? Have you ever questioned the things you do, or why others do what they do?

There are basically three types of people. One type are the ones who are saved by grace, those who reject God and are doomed, and the last group, the largest of all. These people either accept Jesus, or reject Him, They are fence-sitters, and are great subjects for us to pray for and help. 

John 3:17, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Just before Jesus Ascension, He commanded His disciples to teach the Word to all nations and people. That spells out the job believers have. There is more to it, than just words.

The first thing we must realize is there are many reasons people act the way they do. Some are sick, some lost loved ones, some are depressed. Most don't know about God's plan for them, so they follow the crowd to a miserable life, and eventual destruction.

We must take all possible reasons into consideration. As we all know the Bible tells us that judging people is wrong. Words are just words. Actions speak louder than anything. When we do not judge someone, and use compassion and positive lifestyle as an example, it is a very good start.

Galatians 5:22 - 23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such there is no law.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see yourself and others, as God sees you and them. Ask the Holy Spirit in Jesus name, to send someone to you that you can help. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the words, genuine love and compassion, to lead someone to Christ. You are planting a seed that the Holy Spirit will make grow into salvation and a love for God.

Remember that it may take what seems like a lot of time and effort, with no apparent results, but don't give up. God didn't give up on you or me, so we don't stop until God tells us to. God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

 Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve only you. 

Praise The Lord! 

Amen

Help From God

Isaiah 41:10, Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Have you ever thought about help from God when you weren't desperate? If not, you are not alone. Many people are oblivious to God's willingness to help us for all kinds of reasons. Let's look at a few.

Many people think they are self-sufficient, and can do all things by themselves’ These people cannot, or will not admit they need help. It is a question of pride, regardless of the pain. This is probably one of the worst spots you can be in, because you're so wrapped up in your own abilities, that common sense does not figure into the equation.

Proverbs 3 : 5 - 6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.

Most people don't realize how much God loves them and wants to help. People find it very hard to believe that God will help. I guess it's a trust issue. Some people think that God doesn't get involved with people or their problems, so they don't ask God for help. Other people don't even realize that they need help, or they think their problem is too small for God to help. Everyone seems to have a reason for not talking to God.

Psalm 37: 5, Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

So now we get to those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior, and know they can count on God for help. These people trust God for everything, and involve Him in all of their decisions. They seek His guidance as a way of life. If you read the Old Testament, you'll see that David always spoke to God. You also see that when the Hebrew people went into a battle without asking God if they should even do it, they lost. When they did consult with God He told them what to do, and no matter what the odds, they were successful.

Psalm 34: 17, The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all of their troubles.

So my friends, it may be a good time to consider where you fit in this picture. Life is a stopover on our trip to eternity. God gave the Holy Spirit as a helper, to guide you, and as a teacher to all who accept Jesus Christ as their savior. Being totally honest about it, the trip to Heaven has plenty of potholes, and some hard times. God allows it because it builds our faith. If everything was always perfect, where would faith be? After all, life is the perfect way to find out where you stand with God. God bless you and your family. 

Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you

 Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise The Lord! 

Amen